


Somebody to Move Me

by QuickedWeen



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Actor Harry Styles, Actor Louis Tomlinson, Actor Niall Horan, Captain Niall Horan, F/F, Famous Harry Styles, Famous Louis Tomlinson, Famous Niall Horan, First Meetings, Girl Direction, House Party, Meet-Cute, Moonlight, Romance, all those good things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22707664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickedWeen/pseuds/QuickedWeen
Summary: Harry Styles has decided after her latest breakup to take some time to herself. She never expects to meet Louis Tomlinson.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 18
Kudos: 138





	Somebody to Move Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is vaguely based on the story John Krasinski and Emily Blunt tell of how they met.
> 
> I've been stuck in a bit of a rut lately, so I'm hoping publishing something like this will help!
> 
> Many thanks always to everyone I talk to every day.

“Come on, Harry!”

Harry rolled her eyes at Niall as he disappeared down the hall and she paused to don her jacket. She turned a couple of times in the full-length mirror propped up in her walk-in closet to make sure she looked as good as she thought she did from all angles.

Tonight was the start of a new era. It had been three months since she and her last girlfriend had split up, and emotionally she had come to terms with it. She was going to be single, and she was going to enjoy it.

Harry didn’t want to sit around waiting for the right person to come around, she wanted to take some time to get to know herself. 

She normally didn’t spend her downtime between projects in LA, but because of awkward timings and various contractual and press obligations, it made sense for her to stay this time instead of going back to London. Even though LA was supposed to be her permanent home base these days, it hadn’t really sunk in yet. She was still a London girl at heart.

Everything that she hated about the entertainment business she called life was personified in LA. Everyone went out to see and be seen and everyone talked about getting together and “getting lunch” without actually doing it. 

Everyone until Niall. They had met on a film years before, one of Harry’s first in America, and they had become fast friends. _Real_ friends. Something rare.

“Comiiiiing,” she called out as she reached for her purse. This was what she needed; dinner at a fancy restaurant that was just two good friends without the possibility of it being a date. She locked her door behind her and let the calmness wash over her as her heels clicked satisfyingly against the pavement of her driveway before she climbed up into Niall’s sleek black Range Rover.

Once they were underway and Niall’s playlist was playing lightly in the background, Harry finally asked him where they were going for dinner.

“I mean, I know it’s downtown somewhere, but I didn’t bother to ask,” she added.

Niall smiled and Harry took a moment to admire just how charming he could be. “New place, French I think.” He paused for a moment before he gasped. “Oh, you know who told me about it? Liam.”

“That’s nice.” Harry smiled fondly when Niall mentioned their good mutual friend. She hadn’t called Liam since the last charity event they had gone to together. She should definitely do something about that, she made a mental note.

Liam was soon forgotten, though, when Niall launched into a story about some producer or other he had been meeting with in his quest to start his own production company.

Harry let the monotony of the long, familiar, LA blocks lull her into a sense of peaceful comfort.

Whenever she was out with Niall she didn’t feel like she needed to look over her shoulder, or check her phone, or even wait while he checked his phone incessantly. There were some industry lunches she had been to in the past where she felt like she spoke entirely to the top of someone’s head as they texted their way through the meal with one hand and ate with the other.

They pulled up to the restaurant—that thankfully had its own parking lot—and went to go get their table.

This was LA, but if the hostess recognized either one of them she didn’t say anything.

Harry appreciated the vibe of the restaurant as she took in the high skylight that showed the smokey black sky above them and the stonework of more traditional Mexican-inspired California architecture. It was all quaint and sort of cozy.

The staff was attentive and they very quickly had glasses of red wine in their hands as they perused the appetizers to decide their plan of attack for the evening. Because Harry was in such a liberated mood, there was a spark of daring in her blood. She knew she loved food, Niall loved food, they should be adventurous.

She peeked over the top of her menu. “They have a chef’s tasting menu, Ni.”

He lowered his own menu onto the tabletop in front of him. “I saw that, but can we do it if we didn’t arrange it in advance?”

Harry shrugged. Niall didn’t need much more convincing before he was flagging their waiter down and asking. 

There had been a tasting cancellation that evening so they were welcome to if they wanted. Again, Niall didn’t need any convincing. They had nowhere in particular to be that night, they might as well settle in for the long haul. Ten courses of hopefully amazing French food chosen by the chef.

The kitchen didn’t miss a beat before they were sending out the first course, an amuse-bouche. Meanwhile, Niall had launched into another one of his ridiculous stories before winding down enough to ask Harry about the work she had coming up. She explained her new film and they played the “Who have you worked with?” game with the cast and creative as the courses kept coming.

The conversation about work led directly into a conversation about Harry’s ex-girlfriend. They weren’t necessarily in the same field, Michela was a musician, but in this town, all it took was being booked on the same talk show for paths to cross. 

“I’ve decided, Ni. I’m done with it. I’ve got a new project in a couple of months, I don’t want to… I don’t know, I don’t want to spend all of my downtime frantically searching for someone to date only to have to leave in another couple weeks. That was half the reason Michela and I broke up in the first place.”

Niall hummed and nodded along as Harry continued to talk it through.

“Why do I need to _be_ with someone anyway. Am I not enough? Even if I was dating someone, I would never talk about it with anyone until it was serious anyway. I'm going to be single and I’m going to have fun,” she said emphatically like she could will the “fun” into existence.

As they neared the halfway point in their meal, now on their second glasses of wine, Niall snapped to attention.

“What? What’s wrong?” Harry asked as his gaze was laser-focused at another table somewhere over Harry’s right shoulder.

Niall shook his head. “No, nothing. I just could have sworn… That sort of looks like…”

“Looks like who?”

“One of Liam’s friends. She’s an actress too, though, I’m not sure what you would have known her from because you don’t watch American television. I’ve worked with her before she’s fun.”

Harry highly valued Niall’s judgment when it came to people, especially in LA. “What’s her name?”

“Louis. Louis Tomlinson.” 

Harry didn’t immediately recognize her name, but as Niall said, she didn’t watch American television.

“Wait, I think that is her. She’s standing up. Coming over here.”

She reached down to wipe her lips with her napkin. “Alright, Niall, I don’t need the play by play.”

Over her shoulder, she felt the air move as a vaguely human-shaped blob bypassed her and approached Niall’s side of the table.

“Niall! How are you, man?”

Harry always hated this moment. She never knew whether to get up as well so she wasn’t left sitting at the table craning her neck, but then they would all be awkwardly standing in a restaurant while everyone else was seated. They were at a two-top so there was no extra chair to offer the woman. She had no idea what to do.

Her decision was taken away from her when Niall immediately sat back down in her seat.

“Lou, have you met Harry Styles before?”

Almost instantly, Louis Tomlinson’s crystal blue eyes were focused squarely on Harry and Harry finally got her first good look at her. The woman was incredibly gorgeous. Her face was definitely familiar to Harry in some way, but she couldn’t really place it.

Living in LA as a queer woman, she thought she knew all of the other queer women. Her _options_ , as it were. She was making gross assumptions about Louis, of course, but all she could see was the glaring stereotypes. If Louis was indeed gay, she was a grade-A butch, and Harry was definitely into it.

The woman was shorter with an athletic build and she had a white t-shirt on under a blazer with jeans, but the jacket was undone and the sleeves were rolled up so she looked tousled and gorgeous like she just rolled out of bed tugged her fingers through her hair, thrown on the blazer and been ready for a night out.

“No, I don’t believe we have met.”

Louis was standing there with her hand out as Harry zoned out.

“Hi, hello. I’m Harry.” She gently put her hand in Louis’ and all she felt was incredible warmth and comfort.

“It’s so nice to meet you, I’m a huge fan of yours.”

Normally, being British, that sort of compliment always put Harry on edge a bit. She wasn’t very good at taking them from fans or her peers, and she never knew what to say. With Louis’ though, some of that warmth transferred from her hand to deep in the pit of her stomach and began to bloom.

“Thank you, that’s very kind.” Louis finally dropped her hand, but they maintained eye contact for another few seconds before Niall interrupted to ask Louis a question.

Harry couldn’t follow everything about their conversation, they were off on a tear about a mutual friend. But Louis kept looking back at her as though she was trying not to be rude and draw her into the conversation. Again, usually Harry hated that. She would rather people finish their conversation and move on than stand there pretending that she knew what was going on when everyone involved knew she didn’t. 

This time with Louis, though, it felt as though Louis actually did want to talk to her, not simply include her. 

“And you, Harriet?” Louis shifted her weight until she was fully turned towards Harry and gave her a quick once over. “What are you in town for?”

The nickname was so unexpected, rather embarrassingly, Harry blushed. “Oh, it’s um… just Harry.”

One corner of Louis’ mouth lifted in a smirk. “Okay,” she replied as though she didn’t believe Harry one bit before giving her a quick little wink. If Harry had blinked, she would have missed it.

Inexplicably, Harry felt a giggle rise in her throat.

“But really,” Louis continued. “What are you in town for?”

All pretense gone, Harry took a sip of wine if only to gather her thoughts and tamp down the butterflies in her stomach before leaning back in her chair.

“I just wrapped on something and I have a few weeks before I’m starting a new project and another few weeks after that before I need to be on location in Vancouver. It seemed simpler for me to stay in LA this time, spare my team the airfare.”

Louis nodded. “Of course, because most people get into the business to be homebodies.”

The sarcasm took Harry by complete surprise, and she couldn’t help herself before she was giggling again. Louis was disarmingly charming.

“We had a brutal couple of months in there where we were flying back and forth a lot, so I let whoever wanted to stay, stay, and everyone else went back to England.” What she _didn’t_ mention was the break up that certainly made the decision to stay put for a while a bit easier while her ex was a whole country and ocean away.

“England! Of course. That lovely accent of yours.” Harry blushed again like she was a proper school girl. She was usually so calm and collected. Flirting never affected her. Until Louis.

Louis’ own American accent was soft and raspy and certainly added to her charm, but Harry didn’t get to hear much more of it as the waiters interrupted with her and Niall’s next course. Louis apologized to them and stepped out of the way. 

She leaned down to wrap her arm around Niall’s shoulder and pop a kiss on his cheek. “Nice to see you again.”

Once again Harry was at a loss for how to respond, but Louis saved her by giving her a small wave. “It was lovely to meet you, Harry. I’ll let you get back to your dinner.”

And with that, she was gone.

It wasn’t until she had cleared the table that Harry realized her heart was pounding and her cheeks were burning and the butterflies in her stomach were still doing the samba.

“Well, well, well…” Niall said with a leading tone like the cat who caught the canary.

Harry hastily took a sip of water before concentrating very, very hard on cutting the piece of meat in front of her. It could have been chicken or fish she never would have known, and she had long since lost track of what course they were tasting.

“What?” She asked, playing dumb.

Niall scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t ‘What?’ me, Styles.”

“Then ask an actual question, Horan.”

“You liiiiiiiiike her,” he drew out like a schoolgirl on the playground.

Harry straightened her spine and dug deep down in her soul to unearth all those years of useless posh schooling. “I simply have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You want to daaaaaaaate her.” Niall had annoyingly moved on to quoting _Miss Congeniality_.

The panic began to rise up in her throat as she actually stopped and thought about what Niall was saying. No. This was not part of the plan. She had decided to be single for a while, and she meant it. Butterflies be damned.

“No,” she said emphatically. “That’s not happening. I just want some time.”

Niall’s laughter tapered off, but the mirth still lit up his eyes as he held his hands up defensively. “Alright, alright. That’s fine.” 

They grew quiet again but it was interrupted by the waiter bringing their next course. They both ate silently, as Harry let her thoughts spin out of control. 

Fate was to be blamed for waiting until Harry had decided to be single to throw Louis Tomlinson—the sexiest woman she had ever seen—in her path. Harry had to have faith in herself and had to believe that she had at least some will power to stick to her convictions and not date _literally_ the first woman she came across.

This was, of course, all assuming that Louis Tomlinson wanted to date her. 

Harry cut that thought off at the pass before she could spin out of control—Louis had definitely checked her out—and Harry was a strong, independent woman that anyone would want to date regardless of sexual orientation.

She needed to be reined back into the real world. 

Tasting menu. She and Niall were eating food.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said when she realized Niall was looking at her expectantly. “What was the question?”

To his credit, Niall didn’t laugh at her. Much. “Would you like some more wine?”

Harry grimaced. “Might be best to leave off that for the rest of the night.”

They were in the home stretch, and the whole meal had been incredible. A tasting menu was always so adventurous, and the chef did not disappoint. 

Harry knew that when they left the restaurant they would probably need to go over and acknowledge Louis again as Niall said goodbye. She spent the whole end of the meal psyching herself up for another light, casual conversation and sprayed imaginary pesticide in her stomach to keep the butterflies at bay.

Louis was just an attractive woman. That had been exceedingly funny and charming and everything Harry could ever want in a partner. There was no need to get all worked up about it.

Harry was convinced her body had over-reacted during their conversation.

She was also convinced that she had psyched herself up too much to face Louis again, which absolutely explained the crushing disappointment she felt when they realized Louis and her companion (that Harry had never seen, a date perhaps?) had already left the restaurant.

When they climbed back in the car for Niall to take her home, he handed Harry his phone so she could start up the playlist again. The screen lit up with numerous notifications—Niall always cleared each and everyone, but he was also a pretty popular guy so they amassed quickly—but the one sitting right at the top made Harry’s breath catch in her throat.

 **LT** : _Nice to see you tonight. Had to leave early - lunch Tues?_

Harry cleared her throat. “Oh, um. Sorry. I—I didn’t mean to read it,” she added holding Niall his phone like she had never touched one before in her life.

Niall cackled. “That’s alright. Lunch, huh?” he thought for a second before he jammed the keys in the car and started the engine. “Want to come with?”

Harry could feel her head shaking before he had even finished the thought. “Nope. That is not a good idea.”

“Aww. Come on, why not? Don’t you want to make a new friend?”

“I have plenty of friends,” Harry deadpanned.

Thankfully, Niall dropped the subject for the rest of the evening.

A few days later, right as Harry was finishing up a combination, her phone vibrated from its perch on the coffee table.

 **Niall** : _Having a little get together tonight. Just a few people. Up for it?_

Harry should have known Niall had let the subject of Louis go too easily the other night. She also knew that it was currently Tuesday at lunchtime. If he had kept his date with Louis there were three options.

The first option was that he was about to go into his lunch with Louis and wanted to invite her to something, but wanted to be sure that Harry was already committed. The second option was that he had just left lunch with Louis and he had done the same thing in the reverse, making sure Louis would be there first. The last option—and Harry’s least favorite—was that Louis and Niall were sitting there drafting and sending the invite together, so they were both in on it. Knowing Niall, it was definitely the last one.

Harry wiped her brow that was still damp from her workout with a spare hand towel as she thought about everything she would need to do to get ready. Shower. Put on makeup. Obsess about anything and everything for five hours straight. Pick out an outfit.

Really, she just sat there racking her brain for excuses, but her brain seemed to have gone on holiday.

“Ugh…” Harry looked to her cat Eugenia for sympathy. Eugenia only blinked at her before going back to sleep. “Fine.”

She texted Niall back the same message before locking her phone and tossing it on the couch for dramatic effect before slumping back down on to her mat starfishing across her living room floor.

How dare Niall make Harry go to a party with a beautiful woman? This was the worst.

When Harry was getting ready, she definitely did _not_ dig out her silkiest, flirtiest dress that covered her but also managed to leave very little to the imagination. She also did not pin her hair back away from her face softly with loose waves falling down around her face because it was flattering.

She did not decide to stick to natural, flattering makeup because she was having a good skin day and was feeling particularly attractive.

She didn’t do any of that because she was not dressing to impress Louis Tomlinson. 

Except that was exactly what did happen and she was terribly bad at lying to herself.

That afternoon while Harry was getting ready to go over to Niall’s, something cracked. Now, she was rationalizing.

There was no reason to assume she and Louis would immediately jump into a relationship. They had barely spoken more than a few words together. What if instead, they just hooked up? Something casual. That was something people did all the time, right?

Louis had thrown a wrench in all of Harry’s plans the other night. It didn’t help that when Harry got home she had looked up the television show Louis was on and binged all five seasons in three days.

Harry threw her purse down next to her in the passenger seat as she slipped off her low block-heeled sandals so that she could drive properly. It was hard enough being on the wrong side of the road. 

Niall's idea of a "small get together" always started somewhere around ten people. Maybe fifteen. By the time the party started, that number always ballooned to something much bigger. So by the time Harry arrived there were already at least thirty people at his house. 

But the great thing about Niall's get-togethers was the atmosphere he managed to create with so little. He always hired a bartender, no matter how many people it was supposed to be or not, and made sure everyone had what they needed.

The bartender was a cute young guy with a simple uniform accentuating his broad shoulders and finger-combed brown hair with inexplicable volume. Harry filed him under, "If she was straight," and moved farther into the party to find Niall. 

As with many things in LA, it felt as though she had been dropped into a glamorous scene in a move that the audience never quite believed because surely nothing in real life was that stylistically perfect. 

“Would you like a drink?”

Louis Tomlinson’s raspy voice cut through Harry’s subconscious, and it took everything Harry had in her not to laugh at the absurd beauty of it.

“Sure—” Harry started to say as she turned around to face her. Louis was standing in the dim light of Niall’s living room as the party bustled around her. She briefly looked over her shoulder at the bar before locking eyes with Harry.

She was wearing a similar outfit to what she had on the other night except for this time it was a leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up over a more casual outfit underneath. Her style was neat and clean and powerful, she exuded strength, and even though Harry was a bit taller than her she felt like Louis could absolutely pin her up against the wall.

Suddenly the cool touch of the silk against her skin was becoming an issue. Her nipples were beginning to tighten. She was wearing some pasties, but because the dress was so slinky and it covered so little of her back, that little bit of silicone was all the defense she had between her and Louis Tomlinson. That had been a mistake.

“What would you like?” Louis asked as she drew closer to Harry.

Will power. 

If she was really asking.

“Vodka cranberry.”

Louis’ eyes lit up. “Ah, the classics.”

Harry shrugged sheepishly, already feeling the tightening in her cheeks where she was smiling so incredibly wide. As she let her shoulders drop, she felt one of her impossibly thin straps begin to fall down over her shoulder, but she quickly caught it and crossed her arms in front of her body as she watched Louis walk away.

She didn’t have to stand there. She didn’t have to wait for Louis. There were clumps of people all around, and by the nature of it being “the business”, she knew at least one person in each group. And yet, she stayed.

The bartender was quick and talented so Louis was back within a minute.

“I was worried you would disappear on me,” she joked.

Harry shook her head. She was too easy. “Nope, still here.”

Silence fell as they locked eyes, both staring at each other dopily. Louis blinked first as she focused on something over Harry’s shoulder.

“I’m sure you’ve seen it before, but Niall has a sick terrace. Do you want to go?”

The night was beautiful, still, and clear. Not that new and different for Los Angeles, but still, they might as well take advantage of it while they were able.

“Okay.”

On the walk outside Harry tried to snap herself out of it. She was so overwhelmed by the butterflies that kept cropping up whenever Louis was concerned that she could only grin and answer her with monosyllabic words. She had thoughts, she had opinions, she was intelligent, damnit.

She and Louis walked all the way to the edge of the terrace as they looked down at the city below them. Neither one of them bothered to start the conversation, both content to take in the view for a moment.

Normally when two new people met it was natural for the friend that connected them to drive the interaction, but in that moment, Harry knew that if Niall were to walk up and insert himself in the conversation it would feel like the third wheel. It was a feeling that was irrational and inexplicable given that she and Louis hadn’t said more than a few sentences to each other.

Louis took a deep breath and Harry finally gave in to the urge to turn to her and never look away.

“I wasn’t lying the other night when I said I was a huge fan of yours,” Louis said in a brief flash of solemnity, but as quickly as her humor vanished, it reappeared. “I’m sorry if that sounds creepy. It’s definitely less creepy in my head, if that’s any consolation.”

Harry just barely stopped herself from snorting up some vodka cranberry. “No, no. That’s alright, I understand. Though, I’m sorry to say I knew I recognized you, but I hadn’t seen your show.”

Louis nodded. “I’ll just go then,” she joked pointing back behind her with her thumb, pretending to turn away.

“Wait! No,” Harry was now full belly laughing as she tried to reach for her. “Come back!”

Once Louis was settled back on the railing she took a sip of her own drink. “You said ‘hadn’t’. Does that imply you’ve seen it now? Or am I reading too much into that?”

Harry rolled her lips together to try and keep herself from smiling as Louis looked on expectantly.

“You did!” Louis crowed. “Wow, Styles. You totally checked me out.”

Groaning playfully, Harry covered her face with her hands to try and stop her blush and diminish the blinding glare of her smile. “No, I didn’t. I mean, a little bit. I just heard it was a good show.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure. That was totally believable.” Louis could barely contain her laughter long enough to do her bit. “Want to try another take just in case?”

The ice had been officially broken between them. Harry had no idea how long they stayed out there talking and laughing, but she knew that Louis had her in stitches.

When they finally realized the party had almost completely died down back in the house behind them, and Harry finally had to excuse herself to use the bathroom, she realized that all of her declarations about remaining single had been obliterated.

Cleaning herself back up in Niall’s sink, Harry faced her own reflection.

No one had ever made her laugh like Louis Tomlinson, and no one had ever made her feel safe, or settled like she felt when she was around Louis.

Maybe taking this chance on Louis would end in heartbreak, but something in the back of Harry’s mind couldn’t think of anything less likely.

As she left the bathroom, she found Louis again waiting in the front hallway.

Louis looked unsure for the first time all evening. “Let me give you a ride home? Please? For my own peace of mind.”

Harry nodded and pursed her lips to keep herself from making lewd suggestions about what they could do when they got to her house.

Her block heels clicked on the drive as Louis turned onto the street to find her car. Though it was warm in LA, the breeze had picked up and Harry shivered in the wind. Without hesitation, Louis pulled her own jacket off and draped it around Harry’s shoulders.

Harry snuggled into the lingering body heat and drew the lapels together over her arms to insulate herself, even while her knees were threatening to go weak from the act of chivalry.

Harry didn’t live too far from Niall’s house so her directions were quick and easy. Louis’ car smelled like her, so Harry let herself lean back and indulge in the cozy leather seat while she watched the picture Louis made as she drove with confidence despite not really knowing where she was going.

When the reached Harry’s house, Louis pulled into the drive and cut the engine as the silence enveloped them.

“It feels proper teenage for you to walk me to my door.”

Louis rubbed her hands together in front of her. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?”

Harry hummed in agreement before letting the car go quiet again. “Does it really count as being teenage if you come in with me and stay the night too?”

Laughing lowly, Louis finally looked over at her. “Only if your parents are also home and we need to sneak past them… Are they? Here?”

Harry shook her head. “No. Just me.”

Smirking now with the confidence of a woman who knew she wasn’t going to be sleeping in her own bed, Louis pulled her keys out of the car and pocketed them. 

“Very well then, ‘Just Me,’ lead the way.”


End file.
